50 Newsworthy Anniversaries in April 2014 for you to write about (and make money from!)

Here are 50 newsworthy anniversaries coming up in April 2014 for you to write about (and make money from). The anniversaries are listed 6 months in advance to give you enough time for research and writing.

We have painstakingly cross-checked every entry, but you are advised to check all facts again as part of your research. Please let us know of any errors you find.

This list is just a small sample of the entries for April from The Date-A-Base Book 2014. There are more than 220 anniversaries for this month in the book, which covers the whole of 2014 from January to December and features more than 2,650 anniversaries in total.

Just one published article will cover the cost of your copy many times over.

1000 years ago (23 Apr 1014)
Battle of Clontarf, Dublin, Ireland. The High King of Ireland, Brian Boru, defeated the Viking invaders but was killed in battle.

250 years ago (5 Apr 1764)
The British Parliament passed the Sugar Act (also known as the American Duties Act) which imposed taxes on exports from sugar plantations in the American colonies. (Effective from 29th September, repealed and replaced by the Revenue Act in 1766.)

250 years ago (15 Apr 1764)
Death of Madame de Pompadour, mistress of King Louis XV of France.

200 years ago (2 Apr 1814)
Birth of Erastus Brigham Bigelow, American industrialist; invented power looms and founded Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

200 years ago (11 Apr 1814)
The Treaty of Fontainebleau was signed in France, marking the end of the War of the Sixth Coalition. Napoleon agreed to abdicate unconditionally and was exiled to Elba in Tuscany, Italy. (He returned to France in 1815 but was defeated at the Battle of Waterloo and was exiled to Saint Helena.)

150 years ago (11 Apr 1864)
Birth of Lillie P. Bliss, American art collector; co-founder of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.

150 years ago (21 Apr 1864)
Birth of Max Weber, German sociologist and political economist; one of the key founders of sociology.

125 years ago (16 Apr 1889)
Birth of Charlie Chaplin, British comedy film actor, director, producer, writer and composer; one of the most important figures in cinema history.

125 years ago (22 Apr 1889)
The Oklahoma land rush began at noon. Thousands of white settlers sought to claim land that had originally belonged to the Creek and Seminole Indians. Oklahoma City and Guthrie were both established before the end of the day.

100 years ago (2 Apr 1914)
Birth of Sir Alec Guinness, Academy Award-winning British film actor (Great Expectations, Oliver Twist, The Bridge on the River Kwai, Lawrence of Arabia, Doctor Zhivago, A Passage to India, Star Wars and more).

100 years ago (9 Apr 1914)
The first feature film to be filmed in colour, The World, the Flesh and the Devil, was released in Britain. (The film is now considered lost.)

100 years ago (20 Apr 1914)
Ludlow Massacre, Colorado, USA. Striking coal miners and their families were attacked by the Colorado National Guard, and their tent village was destroyed. Up to 25 people were killed. The miners then carried out revenge attacks which escalated into a 10-day guerrilla war. Up to 200 people were killed in total.

75 years ago (2 Apr 1939)
Birth of Marvin Gaye, award-winning American soul singer, songwriter, musician and record producer; his hit songs include I Heard It Through the Grapevine and Sexual Healing. He was shot dead by his father in 1984 after a violent argument.

75 years ago (14 Apr 1939)
The classic novel The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck was published.

75 years ago (16 Apr 1939)
Birth of Dusty Springfield, iconic British pop/rock/soul singer; one of the best-selling female singers in the world during the 1960s. (Died 1999.)

75 years ago (27 Apr 1939)
Conscription was introduced in Britain. All men aged 20 – 21 who were fit and able were required to undertake six months’ military training. (The age range was gradually extended after war was declared in Sept, though 40-year-olds weren’t conscripted until June 1941.)

75 years ago (30 Apr 1939)
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) launched its regularly scheduled television service at the New York World’s Fair. Franklin D. Roosevelt became the first U.S. President to appear on TV, when the opening of the fair was televised. (The broadcast was seen by approximately 1,000 people.)

65 years ago (18 Apr 1949)
The Irish Free State became the Republic of Ireland and officially withdrew from the British Commonwealth.

65 years ago (20 – 22 Apr 1949)
The Badminton Horse Trials were held for the first time, in Gloucestershire, England.

50 years ago (5 Apr 1964)
Death of Douglas MacArthur, American general and field marshal; Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army; commanded the South-west Pacific Theatre in WWII; Medal of Honor recipient.

50 years ago (7 Apr 1964)
IBM launched its System/360 mainframe computer, which dominated the market from the mid-1960s until the late 1970s.

50 years ago (16 Apr 1964)
The Rolling Stones released their first album The Rolling Stones in the UK. (USA: 30th May with the sub-title England’s Newest Hit Makers.)

50 years ago (17 Apr 1964)
The Ford Motor Company launched the Ford Mustang at the New York World’s Fair.

50 years ago (17 Apr 1964)
Shea Stadium in New York City, USA opened. It was the home of the New York Mets baseball team until 2008 when it was demolished. (The New York Mets moved to Citi Field in 2009.)

50 years ago (20 Apr 1964)
The TV channel BBC Two was launched in the UK. (Due to a power cut it didn’t start broadcasting until 21st Apr.)

50 years ago (26 Apr 1964)
Tanganyika and Zanzibar merged to form the United Republic of Tanganyika and Zanzibar (renamed Tanzania in Oct 1964).

40 years ago (2 Apr 1974)
Death of Georges Pompidou, President of France (1969-74).

30 years ago (1 Apr 1984)
Death of Marvin Gaye, award-winning American soul singer, songwriter, musician and record producer; his hit songs include I Heard It Through the Grapevine and Sexual Healing (shot dead by his father).

30 years ago (17 Apr 1984)
British police officer Yvonne Fletcher was shot dead during a demonstration outside the Libyan Embassy in London. This led to an 11-day siege by police.

30 years ago (22 Apr 1984)
Death of Ansel Adams, American photographer; regarded as the most important landscape photographer of the 20th century; best known for his black and white shots of the American West.

30 years ago (26 Apr 1984)
Death of Count Basie, American jazz pianist, bandleader and composer.

25 years ago (4 Apr 1989)
The Round Table Agreement was signed in Warsaw, Poland. It legalised trade unions, lifted the ban on Solidarity, and set free elections for June, which led to the abolition of communism in Poland

25 years ago (12 Apr 1989)
Death of Sugar Ray Robinson, American world welterweight / middleweight boxing champion; considered the greatest boxer of all time.

25 years ago (19 Apr 1989)
Death of Daphne du Maurier, British novelist, playwright and short story writer (Rebecca, Jamaica Inn, The Birds and more).

25 years ago (26 Apr 1989)
Death of Lucille Ball, popular American radio, film and television actress, comedian and television executive; best known for her TV comedy series I Love Lucy.

25 years ago (30 Apr 1989)
Death of Sergio Leone, Italian film director who popularised the ‘spaghetti western’ (A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Once Upon a Time in the West, and more).

20 years ago (4 Apr 1994)
Netscape Communications was founded (as Mosaic Communications). (It was taken over by AOL in 1999.)

20 years ago (22 Apr 1994)
Death of Richard M. Nixon, 37th President of the United States.

20 years ago (26 Apr 1994)
South Africa’s first full multi-racial elections were held. Nelson Mandela was elected president. (Inaugurated 10th May.)

15 years ago (1 Apr 1999)
The minimum wage was introduced in Britain: £3.60 per hour for adults, £3 per hour for workers under the age of 22.

15 years ago (20 Apr 1999)
Columbine High School massacre, Colorado, USA. Two students went on a shooting spree, killing 12 students and a teacher and wounding 26 others before killing themselves.

10 years ago (1 Apr 2004)
Google launched its free email service, Gmail. (Access to the service was by invitation-only at that time; it was opened up to the general public in Feb 2007. It was the first free email service to offer 1 Gb of storage – many commentators at the time thought this was an April Fool’s Day hoax.)

10 years ago (23 Apr 2004)
U.S. President George W. Bush lifted most trade sanctions against Libya in return for Libya eliminating its weapons of mass destruction programmes. (Remaining sanctions were lifted on 20th Sept after Libya complied with all requirements.)

10 years ago (24 Apr 2004)
Death of Estée Lauder, American businesswoman who co-founded (with her husband) the Estée Lauder cosmetics company.

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Published by Dave Haslett

I am the founder and Creative/Technical Director at ideas4writers.co.uk (thousands of great ideas to inspire your writing). Author of the The Fastest Way to Write Your Book, How to Win Short Story Competitions and the annual Date-A-Base Book series (thousands of upcoming newsworthy and notable anniversaries for you to write about and make money from). Editing, proofreading, publishing and book coaching services also available.
I am also the chairman of Cullompton Swimming Pool Campaign (www.cullypool.org.uk). The town has wanted a pool since 1922 and my aim is to make sure we finally get one.
View all posts by Dave Haslett

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